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This Life +10 (BBC) [2006]


RRP: £15.99
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Editorial
Synopsis

It’s been ten years since we left them amid the chaos of Miles and Francesca’s wedding; Egg, distraught at learning Milly had slept with her boss, sulked off into the darkness of the night; Milly herself had decked Rachel; Ferdy had succumbed to the advances of a kilt-clad, ginger plumber; Warren had returned from his travels and Miles rather dramatically, told Anna that he’d call off his wedding if she declared her love for him. Has ten years proved that time can heal and people do indeed move on? Egg has become a best-selling writer and is now the proud father of a son, with Milly; Miles has struck it rich in the hotel business; Warren has become a life coach and Anna a successful lawyer. However, new-found success doesn’t necessarily numb the pain that stems from them meeting again…


Sorry, but I have to agree with the rest....
Review date: 2008-03-24 Rating: 4 out of 10

I am the biggest This Life fan, being 14 and growing up with the series was certainly defining. I, like everyone else, waited the 10 years and desperately hoped for the sequel or the 'special'. In my opinion it was just left too long. Although we wanted to know what had happened in those ten years the outcome was frankly - disappointing. Had the sequel been done several years after, the questions may have legitimately been answered but now we just ended up with watered down versions of our favourite characters. I have to agree with the assasinations of the 'new 30 something' Miles. He seems to have morphed into the character Jack Davenport always plays.
In short, ho hum, I will always watch it, but my fondness lies with the original series. I guess we all just think we could have written it better.

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Reviews


Well, it HAS been ten years...
Review date: 2008-02-16 Rating: 8 out of 10

Having watched the entire This Life in the weeks immediately prior to screening this reunion, I have to say that, unlike other reviewers here, I thought it was quite a satisfactory re-visit. The performers seemed to slip back into character like slipping on tailored gloves. I totally recognised them, but "plus ten", you know? Except maybe for Egg. He could have walked right out of the old show, he's changed so little physically. Sure, I would have liked a lot more information about what had happened in the aftermath of the wedding reception, but, well, people don't really talk in exposition do they? It was frustrating, but ultimately a strength of the writing; not copping out to the usual cliché of "Well, it was sure interesting that Egg and Milly managed to talk through the fallout from Rachel's revelation thought a pity that Milly had the falling out with Anna over Oscar while Miles divorced Francesca as Miles was starting up his life-coaching business." If you really were a spider on the wall watching these folks together again, you probably wouldn't hear them filling in all the cracks of the ten years since we'd last hung around them. The dialogue and group dynamic suggested that there was ongoing stuff happening between the characters in the period when the "window" was closed to us, and it's too bad for us we didn't get to see it. The problem for us as viewers and the writing and the characters was that it was probably too much for the eighty minutes, though this is a limitation of circumstance - the actors have other careers, and it was pack it all in here or nothing. I'm glad it was all packed in here. I also felt that it was as much like the old This Life as possible. Miles' house rolled out a nice sense of familiarly. Even the orientation of the elements of the house - the stairs, the kitchen (down to the windows) - allowed the direction and the editing to evoke the series "brand qualities". I thought it worked. I'd love to see a "+15". Please let's not wait for a "+20".

Taints the original 2 series - stay well clear
Review date: 2008-01-14 Rating: 2 out of 10

This special 'catch-up' episode is something the original series creator should be utterly ashamed of. The story was totally ridiculous and full of holes. The cast seemed to have forgotten how to play the characters and instead they have been allowed to become really irritating and totally unlike anything we used to know and love.

The people that were missing (Ferdy, O' Donnell, Kira and Jo) were all big omissions and Miles having abandoned his practice of law and marrying the woman he did was so implausible as to be laughable.

That girl walking around with the camera was just annoying and gave a very weak excuse to get the characters to talk to the camera, and each other, about themselves in the third person - as if the situation wasn't already stretching the limits of natural character development and logic!

So this un-special 'special' has taken everything that felt genuine and natural about the original 2 series and totally discarded them. Now they are all rather annoying people that made it hard for me to remember why I ever cared about them in the first place.

If you loved This Life, go back to and stick with the original 2 brilliant series and ignore the fact that this badly designed piece of rubbish ever got made.



This Life plus 10
Review date: 2007-10-30 Rating: 6 out of 10

I was slightly disappointed in this, not because script bad, or acting bad, but because the characters changed too much. I did not like the change in the Jack Davenport character. In the original series he was very cool and sexy, but in this episode he certainly was not. I wanted to see the characters as they were but 10 yrs older. Still despite this it is worth watching. Just get a box set of the original series.

Sacrilegious
Review date: 2007-09-20 Rating: 2 out of 10

I bought this despite the reviews and so wished I didn't. I didn't even finish watching it as the plot was so unbelievable and it was just plain weird. Despite the same actors, the original characters weren't there. The original series was brilliant with the greatest ending a television series has ever had. Yes, I wanted more and for years wished they'd do some sort of special. Do yourself a favour and be happy with the glorious original and forget about this horrendous 'special' as it will poison your love for This Life. I have already disposed of my copy of this trash.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Jason Hughes
Daniela Nardini
Andrew Lincoln
Jack Davenport
Amita Dhiri

Creators:
Jack Davenport (Primary Contributor)
Amita Dhiri (Primary Contributor)

Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503237622
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2007-02-26
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 79 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2006
Language: English (Original Language)

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